


Forward

by myashke



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-16
Updated: 2011-04-16
Packaged: 2017-11-04 18:46:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/397035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myashke/pseuds/myashke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Arthur's birthday falls on the first warm day of Spring, Arthur goads Merlin into celebrating with him. A little bit of slow, sweet pwp for Lolafeist on her birthday, 2010.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forward

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wangler](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wangler/gifts).



The cool breeze on Merlin’s cheek burned away under the rays of the sun, as bright and warm as a summer’s day, though it was only just the turning of the seasons from winter to spring.

He ran his fingers through the grass absently as he stared up at the clouds, the crossbow lay unused and forgotten at his side. The way Arthur had made straight for the water, Merlin very much doubted he’d ever intended to hunt that day. Merlin stretched his legs out, ankles crossed, leaning back on his elbows, watching Arthur and shaking his head. “You’ll catch your death, you know,” he said chidingly.

“And you’ll mop my brow and fuss over me like my old nurse until I’m recovered,” Arthur said, smirking, hands forming a low wall and skimming the surface of the water, spraying Merlin’s boots and trousers with cold droplets but doing no real harm. “It’ll all be very much worth it.”

Merlin shrugged, picking a long blade of grass and sticking it between his teeth. He looked toward the sun, not far past its zenith in the sky overhead. “We’d best be getting back. I’ll need to help Gaius sort out his dress robes, then get dressed myself as well as prepare you for the feast, you know. The King and Gaius will both want us back early.” He didn’t move though, didn’t think he could as Arthur leaned his head back, chest arched and gleaming with sun-filled beads of water as he smoothed his hair back from his forehead.

“And I want you here,” Arthur said, straightening and swiping his hand across his face. “So what’s it going to be? Go running back to the citadel or stay here and enjoy the first warm day of the year with your prince?”

“Hmm,” Merlin said, mouth screwed to the side and eyes looking up as if considering. 

The wave of water that hit him wasn’t a thin spray this time, and Merlin blew out through pursed lips, raising his neckerchief to mop his face. “Thanks for that,” he mumbled, pushing to his feet and moving the food basket well out of Arthur’s range. “You won’t get away with that,” he said, walking to the lake’s edge, ready to dodge out of the way if Arthur tried anything funny. “Even on your birthday.”

“Won’t I? Wee little Merlin going to come in and teach me a lesson, is he?” Arthur mocked, raising his eyebrows and spreading his arms wide in an open invitation. “Come and get me, then.”

“I’m not stupid,” Merlin said, crouching down so he was closer to eye level with Arthur. “You’ll just dunk me the second I get within your grasp.”

Arthur stepped closer, arms floating on the top of the water, lips dark red with the cold Merlin knew Arthur felt, despite his declarations to the contrary. “I won’t,” he said, looking straight into Merlin’s eyes. “There are other things I can do,” he said, grinning, shoving another face full of water at Merlin.

Merlin wiped his eyes, huffing and unknotting his neckerchief, wringing and shaking it out though he knew it was a futile effort, soaked as it was. Merlin turned to walk away. 

“No, wait, all right!” Arthur said, hands raised in surrender. “I promise not to splash you or dunk you or otherwise get you wet in the _water_ , Merlin. Just come in? It’s the first truly warm day - it’s tradition,” he said, sighing and giving Merlin an impatient look, all of his bribery-sweetness apparently worn thin.

“It’s a stupid tradition," Merlin said, sitting down hard on the ground and jerking his boots off. Of _course_ he would give in, however grudgingly. “Who’s going to take care of us when we _both_ catch our deaths?”

“My father?” Arthur said, unable to keep a straight face. “He can be very compassionate. You’d be surprised,” he joked, rolling his eyes as Merlin turned his back to strip off.

“I saw him...” Merlin trailed off, thinking it best not to bring up Arthur’s false death on the day of his birth. “I bet he sneaked you sweets when you had a fever and everything, didn’t he?”

“Still does, and hurry up. Why are you being so modest? It’s not like you won’t be just as bare when you get in, you know,” Arthur said, a suspicious thunk and splash making Merlin turn before he was ready. “Or whoa - _before_ you get in. Hel-lo, Merlin! You’ve been holding out on me - where did you get _that_?”

Arthur stared – there was no more polite way to describe the impoliteness of it – at his body, dragging his gaze from Merlin’s mid-section down to his feet and slowly raking it all the way back up to Merlin’s burning face. 

“Do you _mind_? It’s not as if you haven’t seen a naked man before,” Merlin groused, nodding at Arthur’s nude form under the water. 

“I’ve not seen _you_ before, have I? Or your scars?” he asked, whistling until a smile broke across his mouth. “You know I have to ask now, right?”

“You don’t want to know, believe me,” Merlin told him, arms folding across his chest to hide the starburst of a scar that spread the width of it, the points touching over his ribs and nearly to his navel, one thin line pulling at the tightening skin around his nipples as the cool breeze swept against his skin. “And I don’t like to talk about it,” he added, stepping into the water and hissing, jerking his toes out.

“It’s better if you just jump in, have it over all at once,” Arthur said, sinking to his shoulders and catching up some water in his mouth, spitting it in an arch. “You have to tell me about the scar, Merlin.”

“I hate just jumping in, and didn’t I just say I didn’t want to talk about the scar?” he ground out, clenching his teeth to keep them from chattering as he quickly dashed in to waist deep. He stood there, arms wrapped tightly around himself, covered in gooseflesh, body trembling. “There. I’ve been in. Can we go now?”

Arthur moved closer in the water, shaking his head, the air around them seeming to still and hold them, the faint sound of a bird twittering far off in the distance. “Were you protecting me from a sorcerer, or was it a beast?”

“A... beast,” he lied, thinking truly, Nimueh _had_ been a beast. At Arthur’s incredulous look, Merlin shook his head. What had he just admitted? Not his magic, not really. “Arthur, it’s _freezing_ ,” he said quickly, hoping to change the subject. His voice broke on the last word as Arthur’s hand came up out of the water, dripping, and reached for his shoulder.

He carefully didn’t flinch away, expecting some sort of trickery but not willing to give Arthur the satisfaction. But Arthur’s wet fingers slid against his skin, up and up along his neck, around the back and up into the edge of his hair, chilly water dripping from them and trailing gently down Merlin’s spine.

The intensity of Arthur’s gaze, so focused and close, was matched by the fingers curling into Merlin’s hair, gripping just the smallest bit. “Tell me what happened. Tell me exactly how you saved me from the _sorcerer_ , Merlin. No lies.”

Arthur knew about his magic - or suspected at the very least - and he wasn’t screaming, wasn’t beating Merlin to a pulp or drowning him or banishing him, not that Merlin had truly expected any but the first and maybe the last. Arthur was kind of _holding him up_ , actually, which was a good thing, given that Merlin’s knees weren’t up to the task at the moment. 

The only thing Merlin could manage in the face of such honesty was the truth.

He nodded, then swallowed hard and spoke clearly, determined to give Arthur the admission he deserved. “I traded my life for yours, or thought I had. In the end, she got far worse than this,” he said, gesturing at his chest.

“I’m sure she did. I’d hate to see _her_ scars,” Arthur said, smirking. 

The half-smile fell from Arthur’s lips and Merlin braced himself for the screaming and accusations and that look of disappointment that tore his heart out every time Arthur looked at him that way. But Arthur only narrowed his eyes. 

“You're a wizard, then," he said thoughtfully, then raised his eyes to meet Merlin's. "Think you could do something about the water?” Arthur asked, lips pursing as if he was trying not to smile.

Merlin blew out his breath, mind reeling from the ease with which Arthur was speaking of Merlin’s biggest secret. “You don’t care,” he said flatly. This was all wrong – all completely opposite to what he’d always pictured when he’d thought about this conversation, and he’d done so often. Daily. For years.

“Of course I care, idiot.” Arthur lifted his hand and flicked his fingers toward Merlin’s face, showering him in droplets of water. “I was angry with you for ages for not telling me. Did you not realize when I spent half a year hurtling goblets at your head?”

“No.” Merlin hadn’t realized, hadn’t even guessed that Arthur had known for so long. How had they gotten so close, developed such a friendship on such a rocky foundation as this? “I never knew.”

Arthur looked pointedly down at the water and back up at Merlin. “I’ll concede that the water’s chilly if you _do_ something about it,” he urged, and Merlin nodded, glancing down at the water, casting as Arthur continued. “I decided if you hadn’t told me today, I would have insisted. We couldn’t move forward until this was settled between us.”

“And you want...” Merlin shook his head in disbelief. “You want to move forward?” 

At Arthur's small nod, Merlin began to relax. Whatever 'forward' meant to Arthur, the tension between them was gone, wiped away in just a few short words. Merlin pulled energy from the earth, gathered it to him and released it into the water.

The water around them heated, flowing warmly around Merlin’s ankles, then tickling like a hot, teasing tongue between his thighs as the heat rose higher and higher. 

The arm on Merlin’s shoulder pushed him gently down, urging him to slip further into the water with Arthur.

“Gods, that’s good,” Arthur groaned, sinking all the way down until only his nose and eyes were above water. Merlin did the same, tilting his head back to wet his hair, the hand slipping away from his shoulder.

Before he could miss Arthur's touch, it connected again on his shoulder, spread wide and possessive over his collarbone, Arthur’s thumb rubbing back and forth at the base of Merlin’s throat. Arthur’s other hand found his stomach and slipped up, fingers smoothing across his scar, then trailing slowly down again.

Merlin could only half-think about the conversation as Arthur stroked his skin. It was possibly the most important conversation of his life and he couldn't even speak. 

Arthur’s fingers dug into the flesh over his ribs and the hand on his shoulder smoothed down over his chest, pausing over his heart and the centre of the scar. “Whomever did this must've been powerful. I’m surprised you survived, magic or no. You should be proud of it, not hide it. We could come up with a fantastic tale to explain it.”

Arthur had to have been feeling the thudding, nervous rhythm of Merlin’s heart. The bloom of heat across Merlin’s cheeks had nothing to do with the warmth of the water swirling around them. 

The quiet of their little grotto seemed suddenly too still, suddenly like a trap or a trick, like Arthur was waiting for him to slip up and actually admit his magic, though Arthur’s expression wasn’t angry or suspicious in the least. 

“Why didn’t you say something?” Merlin whispered, the irony of that question not lost on him. As soon as the words were out, he smirked, shaking his head. “I feel like an idiot for not realizing you knew all along.”

Arthur returned the smile with a low chuckle, the hand still on Merlin’s chest giving him a light shake. “Don’t. With the war, training all the new knights, my father... Honestly, some days my only amusement was watching you fumble about whilst trying to hide it from me.”

“I did not fumble about!” Merlin protested weakly, knowing it was ridiculous to try to make a case for his prowess when he’d obviously been found out. “I thought it best you didn’t know. Not yet. I didn’t want you pitted against your father, especially not over me.”

“That was – dare I say it?” Arthur asked, face so composed Merlin knew it had to be a tease. “Wise? No, couldn’t have been. Foolish is more like it. Yes, that’s it - foolish.”

Merlin waited for a sly grin to spread across Arthur’s face, but it never did. Arthur took a half-step closer and Merlin swallowed thickly around the moan that threatened to escape. 

Arthur was there, real, bare and warm and touching him, accepting every part of him, even the part Merlin had feared Arthur would never accept. Arthur’s fingertips twitched against his skin then folded in, Arthur’s knuckles brushing gently back and forth over the scar.

“I’m no fledgling colt, Merlin. I can handle my father. You were foolish to keep this from me.” Arthur looked up from where he’d been watching his own hand on Merlin’s skin, a question in his eyes as he licked his lips and moved slowly closer, as if giving Merlin a chance to back away.

As if he could or would.

“Yes,” Merlin whispered, because it seemed right to admit how stupid he’s been, though as he said it and looked into Arthur’s eyes, it became something else entirely, something other than an apology.

“Yes?” It was just a breath as Arthur moved closer, the hand on Merlin’s chest slipping down his skin beneath the warm water, curling over his other side and pulling just a little, urging Merlin closer, too. 

Taking a halting step on the slick lake bottom beneath his feet, Merlin gathered his courage and leaned into Arthur’s touch, half-afraid he was reading the signs wrong. Arthur’s signals were always baffling, but the warm palms spread wide over his ribs seemed straight-forward enough. Arthur didn’t touch anyone like that, not even the knights. 

Arthur’s brow furrowed as he leaned away, though he still held Merlin tight. “Tell me what you want.”

Merlin shook his head, unable to take this final risk, this final plunge. Arthur knew about his magic, had known for Gods knew how long, and had gone right on being Merlin’s friend, trusting him, wanting him always at his side. If he dared tell everything, would Arthur still want even his friendship? The hands on him _seemed_ like assurance enough, but what if he was reading Arthur all wrong?

“It’s _your_ birthday. What do you want?” he blurted, taking a step back, letting his hands fall from Arthur’s shoulders, but Arthur’s grip tightened, urging him so close that his thighs and chest brushed along Arthur’s.

“To move forward, Merlin.” Arthur’s touch move over him like a wave, like a current, fingers slipping up the back of his neck and into his hair. 

Merlin closed his eyes and took a deep breath, leaning against the strong, broad chest in front of him, resting his chin against Arthur’s shoulder, tucking his cheek against Arthur’s neck, lips moving against Arthur’s skin as he spoke softly. “I give myself to you every day, Sire.”

He hadn’t addressed Arthur properly in ages, but he needed to now, needed Arthur to know that Merlin would always serve him, no matter how close they were, no matter what they shared.

“I think we’re beyond ‘Sire’, Merlin.” Arthur’s gentle scoff held no animosity. “You are my equal in bravery and fealty, and I’ve witnessed your strength time and again when you thought I wasn’t watching,” Arthur said softly against his ear. “Show me that strength now. Let me see it. Let me _feel_ it.”

How long Merlin had waited to be recognized, how much he longed for Arthur to see him as he truly was. He’d grown into a man alongside Arthur, learning from and teaching Arthur all the time, and he was ridiculously proud of the men they’d helped each other become. Knowing that Arthur had been seeing his power, his strength all along – it was as if all of Merlin’s sacrifice and pain was wiped away in an instant, leaving behind only... them. 

“Yes,” he whispered against Arthur’s skin, lips pressing in a first, brave kiss to Arthur’s shoulder. At the sharp intake of breath, Merlin did it again and again, slowly trailing along Arthur’s skin until Arthur’s hands came up out of the water, dripping, to push him away.

Arthur looked into his eyes and Merlin willed him to see whatever he was looking for there, whatever it was that would make Arthur trust him, want him, to take Merlin to him and never give him up. 

At the first firm press of Arthur’s mouth to his, Merlin moaned and threaded his fingers into Arthur’s hair, toes digging into the soft bottom of the lake, his body taut with years of pent-up need before they’d even opened to one another.

When they did, lips parting and tongues sliding together, Merlin pressed himself tightly against Arthur, unable to contain the needy whimper as he felt Arthur respond, his body just as eager and willing as Merlin’s own.

They lingered in the kiss, neither pulling back for breath or to speak, Merlin’s fingers rubbing back and forth at the nape of Arthur’s neck as Arthur slipped a hand between them and rubbed up and down the centre of his chest, over and over his scar, the back of his hand just barely touching Merlin’s arousal on every down-stroke. Merlin’s body responded instantly to that first almost-accidental touch, and he held carefully still, reigning in his hunger and need and desire.

“I want to touch you,” Arthur breathed against his jaw, mouth moving, nipping, tugging on his earlobe until Merlin was holding his breath with the effort not to move. “Tell me I can touch you. Tell me I can do anything, everything.”

“Please,” he choked out, catching Arthur’s gaze and taking a shaky breath. “Touch me...” His voice was steadier, but his need still shone through as clear as day. "Anything. Anything you want." 

Arthur took his mouth hard, tongue pushing in against his own without restraint, lips bruising-hard and fingers digging into Merlin’s skin, nails dragging gently over his stomach before Arthur’s knuckles brushed along his cock from tip to base. 

_Oh, God_ , they were - they were going to...

Merlin moaned into their kiss, his breath quickening and his fingers tightened in Arthur’s hair. He pulled away, struggling to catch his breath as Arthur cupped his face and pressed their foreheads together. 

“God, _Arthur_ ,” he groaned, hips jerking as Arthur stroked up and down his arousal, fist opening to wrap around his length. Merlin gasped, surging up through the tight sheath of Arthur’s strong hand. 

“Fuck,” Arthur breathed, leaning in for short, desperate kisses, as though he couldn’t let Merlin be even a hand’s breadth apart from his lips. “Come with me.” Arthur’s hand released him, Merlin swaying unsteadily and stumbling as Arthur turned toward the shore, his fingers lacing into Merlin’s and tugging him along behind. 

The warm air and heat of the sun were still cooler than the water had been and Merlin shivered as he followed Arthur’s lead and sat on the cloak Arthur spread over the soft, green grass, his erection flat against his stomach as he leant back, watching Arthur move with his usual confidence as though he walked about naked and hard in front of Merlin all the time.

“You’re amazing,” Arthur said as he lay down, eyes and hands roaming over Merlin’s skin. Pausing here and there on a scar. He leant down to press a kiss to the pale blotch of a birthmark on Merlin’s thigh. “I never thought you’d let me touch you.”

Merlin bit his lip to keep from confessing just how eager he’d always been for this.

He let Arthur guide him onto his side so they were facing one another, and Merlin touched him, too, fingertips light as a feather over Arthur’s the lines of muscle and the evidence of the many battles they’d fought and won. Together.

Arthur’s gaze was focused as intently it ever was in battle, though this time all of Arthur’s careful consideration was focused solely on him, on them. How often had Arthur been watching him like this and Merlin had never seen it?

Drops of water lingered on Arthur’s skin, streams of them catching up together and falling to the cloak, the sunlight within them slipping from Arthur’s skin. 

Merlin pressed closer, their legs entwining, Arthur’s warm hand brushing up and down over his arm and thigh, coming to rest on the curve of his side. Merlin reached for it, heart in his throat as he summoned courage from his desire and moved Arthur’s hand back down onto his arousal.

“No one’s ever touched me...” he admitted, heat rushing to his cheeks and spreading down his throat and over his chest, reinforcing his damnable innocence. “I don’t really know what to... do.” Merlin reached out to touch the single bead of water that clung to Arthur’s bottom lip, smoothing it across as Arthur smiled.

“Let me,” Arthur breathed out as he leaned close to chase an errant drop of water down Merlin’s throat and shoulder with his tongue. “Let me show you.” Arthur’s mouth sucked gently at the juncture of shoulder and neck, his tight fist stroking Merlin slowly, the two of them looking down between their bodies to watch. “Does that feel good?”

Breath coming in hitching gasps, Merlin nodded and leaned in for another kiss, though he kept his eyes open, fascinated at the hot haze that spread over Arthur’s features. Merlin ran his hands up between them, hips jerking involuntarily as Arthur’s thumb slipped over the head of his cock. 

He slipped out of Arthur’s fist, hips rocking desperately forward, seeking Arthur’s hand on him again and missing, driving his straining length hard up against Arthur’s arousal. Merlin bit his lip to keep from shouting, looked up to see Arthur’s panting parted mouth and surged forward, pushing against Arthur’s cock again.

“God, Merlin, that feels _so good_ ,” Arthur ground out, half-begging and half-groaning as Merlin’s fingertips found his nipples by touch and rubbed hard over them, dragging his palms up and up until his fingers threaded into Arthur’s hair again.

Merlin slid his gaze up Arthur’s body, reluctant to look away. Seeing Arthur this way, seeing them this way together – it was something Merlin had schooled himself never to even think of when he was in Arthur’s presence. His mind was battling with the new set of rules, still queuing him to turn away, to leave, to make himself scarce and never, ever mention this again.

But this time, he wasn’t hiding beneath Arthur’s bed while Arthur groaned and rocked on the mattress above him, the bed ropes creaking as though they’d snap at any second and Merlin’s lip bitten sore and swollen, his hand clenched tight at the base of his aching arousal by Arthur’s final soul-deep groan. 

Arthur’s free hand roamed along Merlin’s side, down over his hip, grasping Merlin’s arse and pulling him closer, sliding down behind Merlin’s knee and hitching his thigh up over Arthur’s hip. When Arthur teased the head of his cock with his thumbnail, Merlin thrust and jerked and nearly lost it, holding his breath and biting his lips, his eyes squeezed tightly shut.

“Wait a moment,” Arthur murmured, fingers digging sharply in at Merlin’s waist, calming the insistent rocking of Merlin’s hips. “Not yet,” Arthur said, holding on tightly as he leaned in for a kiss.

“I want-” Merlin said between panting breaths, but Arthur smiled softly and pressed their lips together again and Merlin was more than willing to give up speaking if it meant he got more of that mouth on his.

When Arthur pulled away from the kiss, he let go Merlin’s waist and wrapped his arm around Merlin instead, drawing him impossibly close, fitting their bodies together like pieces of a puzzle, the thigh between Merlin’s sliding up until it pressed deliciously against his sac. 

He moaned at the feeling of Arthur’s cock pushing against his belly, trapped between them, they were so close. He couldn’t stop his hips from moving, the tamped-down desperation breaking free with a groan. “Please- _please_ , Arthur.”

With one swift, sure movement, Merlin found himself on his back, Arthur’s strong body lined up against him from their touching ankles to their flexing arms as they reached for one another. Arthur kissed him as though he’d been starved of it, as though kissing Merlin was the key to everything.

When Arthur pulled away, he looked down at Merlin with such heat in his gaze, such raw emotion and need that Merlin could be in no doubt of his affection. He reached to cup Arthur’s face, then arched up for another kiss. As their tongues slid in long, languid strokes together, Arthur’s fingertips dragged over his skin, down his chest and stomach, all the way down to wrap in a firm grip around both of their cocks.

With a gasp, Merlin thrust, head thrown back and teeth gritted as Arthur squeezed them together and stroked and teased the heads of their cocks. Merlin licked his kiss-swollen lips, fingers digging into the cloak fabric at his sides as Arthur rolled his hips. 

He was so close to the edge, teetering deliciously, breath coming in short, shaky gasps. 

“Here,” Arthur whispered against his lips, free hand prying Merlin’s fingers off of the cloth, guiding his hand up to grip Arthur’s cock. 

The hand on his own arousal stroked evenly from base to tip, and Merlin matched it, following Arthur into the quick, inexorable rhythm, unable to think with his cock being stroked and Arthur’s long, thick shaft jerking and sliding through Merlin’s fist.

Arthur leaned down and took his mouth again, his groan humming into their kiss as Arthur shifted and the head of his cock slipped out of Merlin's grip and moved down to prod at Merlin’s sac, then lower, sliding back between Merlin’s spread arse, slipping back and forth over his aching entrance.

Merlin’s eyes flew open in shock at the unfamiliar, indescribably intimate feeling of Arthur’s cock nestled and thrusting against his arse. His body had been starving for Arthur for ages, but panic shot through him, quick and bright nonetheless. “Arthur-” he choked out, hand moving from it’s death grip on the cloak to clutch at Arthur’s bicep instead. 

“Shh, Merlin, I’m not going to...” Arthur trailed off, only the barest twinge of “idiot” beneath the words as the corner of Arthur’s mouth hitched in a tiny smile. Arthur thrust forward again, expression going hazy with desire as he timed his stroking hand with the glide of his cock up between Merlin’s legs. “I won't take you yet. I just... I need to... feel you like this.”

Body buzzing with new, tempting awareness, Merlin nodded, the promising rhythmic push of Arthur’s cock nudging against his entrance on every up-stroke pulling renewed heat into Merlin’s groin, the sense of urgency so overwhelming that Merlin had to shut his eyes and bite his lips to keep from begging Arthur to take him. He wanted it, wanted all of Arthur.

Arthur’s hand left his hip and dragged across Merlin’s mouth, pulling his lips open with his thumb, the scent of their mingled arousal heady on Arthur’s fingers. “Look at me,” Arthur whispered, and Merlin opened his eyes, looked up at the man above him, the man he’d dreamed of being beneath for _years_. “Promise me, Merlin.”

He didn't have to ask. He could think of a myriad of things he could – and would – promise if it meant he could have Arthur, finally and wholly, for himself. But he knew what Arthur meant. No more lies between them, no more secrets. “I promise,” he whispered, groaning and arching as Arthur began stroking him again.

He thrust in counterpoint to the swift, strong glide of Arthur’s hand, moaning and pulling Arthur down for a bruising kiss as passion crested and he pulsed in long, hard waves. He spilled over Arthur’s fist, everything going slick and smooth and brilliant white all at once. He'd barely begun to breathe again, could just manage to focus his eyes as Arthur shifted and reached down between their bodies, slicking Merlin’s come along his own shaft before pushing back into place against his arse, thrusting in long, gliding, slippery strokes. 

Propped up over Merlin, arms tense and muscles flexing with the effort to hold himself up as he moved, Arthur looked more powerful than ever. His eyes were closed and kiss-reddened lips parted as he drew in gasping breaths. Merlin reached up and held on tightly to his arms, the muscles bunching and stretching beneath his touch. Arthur surged down between Merlin’s legs again and again, the rhythm hypnotic, the sound of his hard breaths and slick cock pulling Merlin's arousal to the surface yet again. Arthur leant down and took his mouth, chest and stomach pressing hard against Merlin's, groaning and arching as he broke apart, the warm, slick flood of Arthur’s orgasm flowing against Merlin's arse.

Merlin shivered with emotion, with the strength of Arthur's passion. 

“God,” Arthur breathed, inhaling deeply and dropping his forehead to rest against Merlin’s shoulder. “That was...”

“Even better than I imagined,” Merlin supplied, suspicion creeping into his consciousness now that his brain was beginning to function coherently. “Arthur... did you _plan_ this?”

Arthur propped up on his elbows on either side of Merlin , frowning down at Merlin before leaning in for a kiss. It wasn’t an answer, but Merlin soon got one. He felt the beginnings of a telltale grin against his lips. 

Merlin turned his head a little to the side and fought to keep from smiling. “You know all of my secrets then?”

Arthur pressed his nose against Merlin’s neck, nuzzling as he whispered, “I didn’t know about this one.” He smoothed his palm over the scar on Merlin’s chest. 

Merlin tugged on Arthur’s hair until he rose up, looking at Merlin with a grudgingly guilty twist to his lips. Merlin gave him a wry smile and then let it fall away, taking a deep breath. “What happens tomorrow?”

“We move forward,” Arthur said, brushing Merlin’s fringe across his forehead and kissing him gently now, slowly.

The sun’s rays were warm against Merlin’s arms and the smooth skin of Arthur’s back as he held Arthur to him, the warmth seeping in and seeming to grow inside him the longer they lay entwined. 

The scent of the grass and blooming buds on the trees filled the air, mixing with their scents as Merlin drew in slow, deep breaths. The water of the lake lapped at the shore, trees rustling in the gentle breeze. Everything seemed sharper, clearer, as if with the revelation of his secret, a little more of the world had been revealed to them.

It seemed an eternity, an endless, heavenly length of time before Arthur moved away. “If we don’t move, we’ll fall asleep and miss my feast,” he said, helping Merlin to his feet.

With a slow, sensual kiss, they headed back to the shore together, rinsing in the warm water, Arthur’s hands gliding over his skin beneath the water. When they dried off and dressed, Arthur stayed by his side, brushing water from his chest and back, helping him on with his tunic and tying his neckerchief. As they made for the horses, Arthur fastened Llamrei’s reins to Hengroen’s saddle and pulled Merlin up onto Hengroen with him, one arm strong around Merlin’s waist as they rode.

“Happy birthday, Arthur,” Merlin said, leaning his head back on Arthur’s shoulder, closing his eyes as the long rays of the afternoon sun warmed his face. 

Arthur’s lips pressed against his temple, the arm around him hugging him close. “Yes, it has been.” 

 

~finis


End file.
